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y separately published work icon Alfred the Great single work   musical theatre   burlesque   fantasy   humour   - Four acts
Note: Additional original music and arrangements by Thomas Zepelin.
Issue Details: First known date: 1878... 1878 Alfred the Great
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

Billed as 'a dramatic and musical fantasy' with songs to operatic and other music, the story concerns Merlin and Oberon who oversee the efforts of the Saxons to repel the Danish invaders - the Hamlet-quoting King Guthrum and his formidable queen, Hecla. However, their daughter, Hildegarde, loves Egbert, who is a Saxon. Alfred loves Bertha, daughter of Dunulf the swineherd and burns cakes while they romance. Dunulf is captured by the Danes, but is saved by the Saxons, leading to a happy ending with weddings and reconciliation blessed by the fairies.

The libretto contains rhyming couplets and blank verse, as well as some topical and satiric references, including patent medicine, advertising and the press.

[Source: Australian Variety Theatre Archive]

Production Details

  • 1878: Academy of Music, Melbourne; 24 December 1878 - 1 February 1879.

    • Director Joseph Aarons; Music Director Alfred Plumpton; Scenic Art Charles Massey; Costumes S. Calvert, Mrs Stafford and W. Higinbotham, Stage Manager W. H. Wallace; Orchestra Leader Thomas Zepelin.
    • Cast incl. Annetta Scasi, Florence Slater, Emilia Pasta, Blanche Leopold, Ella Moxham, Una Brooks, Clara Thompson, J. H. Fox, Miss Russell, Miss Clifton, Maggie Knight, Miss F. A. Lambert, C. H. Templeton, Henry Bracy, George Leopold, Harry Leston, G. A. Johnson, J. F. Forde.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Works about this Work

The Academy of Music : 'Alfred the Great' 1878 single work review
— Appears in: The Argus , 23 December 1878; (p. 8)

— Review of Alfred the Great Marcus Clarke , Henry Keiley , 1878 single work musical theatre
The Academy of Music : 'Alfred the Great' 1878 single work review
— Appears in: The Argus , 23 December 1878; (p. 8)

— Review of Alfred the Great Marcus Clarke , Henry Keiley , 1878 single work musical theatre

PeriodicalNewspaper Details

Note:

This entry has been sourced from research undertaken by Dr Clay Djubal into Australian-written popular music theatre (ca. 1850-1930). See also the Australian Variety Theatre Archive

Details have also been derived in part from the Annotated Calendar of Plays Premiered in Australia: 1870-1890.

Last amended 14 Oct 2014 10:59:50
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